#bathroom problem

Being batty, I cannot remember if I have already posted a note about this--but even if I have, it bears repeating.

I’ve been using an app on my phone called REFUGE RESTROOMS (I’ve included a link to the web site, but you can download the app version from the Apple store). Essentially, it allows people to submit entries to a mapped database of publicly-available restrooms, along with brief descriptions and ratings, with an eye toward mapping safe restrooms for trans- and gender-nonconforming folk so that we can all pee safely when we need to.

It’s a good app.  It relies on users to enter information so that others can benefit--this means you, kids. Whether you are straight or queer, cis or trans or genderqueer, you can contribute to the mapping of restrooms for us all. 

Handy tip: As a lady who pees frequently, I have the great opportunity of checking out and mapping a large number of restrooms, so I keep the app on my phone, and enter descriptions/ratings right after I wash/dry my hands, before leaving the restroom (I need the memory trigger) or immediately after (if there appear to be folks waiting). 

Refuge Restrooms pays me nothing to say all this; in fact, I don’t think they know I exist. Which is fine. But the point is, this is a post unmotivated by financial gain. (It IS motivated by hope that everyone I know and love can live--and pee--safely in the world.)

So, at the college at which I teach, I teach a class in queer studies and a class in architecture writing.  I’ve given all my students assignments for next week that ask them to think about what’s going on in Queerville, USA lately (North Carolina, I’m looking right at you).  I’m posting them here because I would love to pass on some guidance or further questions from other folk--each one teach one? Ok, but let’s all just teach each other, yeah?

For the architecture students:

Consider (through writing, making designs/sketches/sketch models, or however you can) how we could solve the current "bathroom problem" cropping up in recent politics.  In short, North Carolina has legislated that students must use the bathroom assigned to the sex they were assigned at birth.  This is no problem if you are a girl who was born female, but lots of transgendered kids are now living in constant fear--a boy who lives as a boy (but was born female) must now use the girls' bathroom.  A girl who lives as a girl (but was born male) must now use the boys' bathroom.  

Lots of folks have pointed out how unsafe and demeaning this rule is--and how it unfairly singles out trans kids.  I suggest doing a bit of reading around--lots of articles on the internet are available about North Carolina's decision, as well as the decisions of other states to boycott official travel there.  

Once you're familiar with the problem, please think how you might solve it through architecture.  Where can genderqueer people (who often identify as neither man nor woman) or people who identify publicly as "transmen" (instead of "men") or "transwomen" (instead of "women")​ safely pee in public?   In other words, I'd like you to take on a problem we (in the US) often consider to be a social problem and think about how it might be an architectural problem.  How is architecture a political, social act? Is it always, or can architecture happen without being political? For the Queer Studies kids: 

...perhaps you could all take a few hours this week (hours you would have spent in class anyway) to comb through recent news and bring something to share with the class next week that is relevant to the upcoming elections (local (not necessarily NY) or national, from school boards to the US Presidency).  

For instance, there's been much heated political activity around The Bathroom Problem, only this time it's around trans people instead of lesbians and gays--some states and localities are attempting to legislate that trans people must use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth (i.e. a transwoman living as a woman must use the men's room). North Carolina has particularly been a real jerk of a state recently, I think. Several other states have banned "official" (governmental) travel to NC as a result.   

So, for next week, please bring in one or more news articles, pieces of art (or images of them), pieces of cultural production (or pictures of them--a chair, or a house, or a children's toy, or a film) which helps to tell the story of how our culture constructs/responds to/understands "lesbian," "gay," "transgendered," "bisexual," "pansexual," "asexual/ace," "queer," or any other identity you think should be/is included under the "queer" umbrella. Be prepared to present it to the class--you're going to be the expert (so you should READ the article, if you're presenting one...essentially, you should know more about it than we do), and you should be able to articulate WHY we should think about such a thing in a class concerned with "queer studies." 

(Oh, and this doesn't HAVE to be negative, either: news about NC being transphobic is good to bring in, but so is news about NY governor banning travel there, or NC transfolk resisting...)

(Here's a hint: I don't believe, personally, that homosexual = queer as a matter of course... be prepared to justify your choice beyond a simple claim that the people concerned love people of the same sex. Or gender. Ohhhh, see?  It's already complicated.)

I am asking you to do this:

1. as a way of starting a conversation about what is "queer"

2. as a way of connecting what we've been doing in class to the "real world"

3. as a way of using our time productively despite not meeting this week

I'm not going to grade this, but please take it seriously anyway. Remember that ALL of us are responsible for the life and usefulness of our class.  I don't want to be the authority here, nor do I want to be the sole arbiter of what’s worthy of our attention!

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OK, so those are the assignments I sent (they’re doing this in lieu of class meeting this week, since I’m ill).  I would like to “crowdsource” a bit for them--advice, ideas, places to look, things to consider.  I really do mean it when I write that I don’t want to be the sole arbiter of what’s worthy enough to study... practically, as a professor, I have to do a bit of that, but I don’t want to be the only source of knowledge for them.  

occupant: come in.

me: